Improvement in clasps



DQM. CHURCH E A. R. EAMES.

CLASP.

No.175,239. Patented. March 28,1876.

*UNITED STATES l PATENT 1 -QEEICE yDWIGHT M. CHURCH AND AEISTA E.. EAMES, CE DERBY, CONNECTICUT;

- SAID CHURCH ASSICNCE To SAID EAMES.

|MPRovEMEN-r IN c'LAsPs.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 175,239, dated March 28, 1876 application med october 14, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, DWIGHT M. CHURCHV and ARIsTA It. EAMES, of Derby, county of New Haven, and State of Connecticut, have invented a Device lfor Holding Shirt-Bosoms Down Smoothly to Place; and we do hereby declare that the following, taken in connection with the drawings which accompany and form part of this specification, is la description of our invention sufficient to enable those skilled l 4in the art to practice it.

doubling up or slipping.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents our n invention applied to a shirt and held down by a strap and a button on the pants or on the under drawers.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the device complete, with, its attachments ready to be applied; Fig.'3, an elevation of the clamp' or clasp detached, and Fig. 4 a

perspective view of the lockingv or clamp lever detached.

y b, adapted to receive a short elastic strap, G.

A is a dat piece or bedof metal, provided at one end with a transverse slot or opening,

To this piece A is firmly Secured a top piece, D, having a short transverse slot or opening,

j e, adaptedto receive the handle or tongue of a swinging clamping-lever, F, whose function is to pinch and hold betweenrits lower edge and the upper face of the bed A any doubled for folded ,portion of the skirt of the shirt bel low its bosom, such portion being first passed p. into the space betweenA and D, while the lever-clamp is turned up, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, after which the lever is turned "down to place, asshown in solid lines in the same gure, thus tightly pinching and securl ,ing the fold ofthe muslin or cloth against the flat solid surface of the bed A. The narrow part of the clamping-lever, which is passed.

through the Slot e, and which serves as the lever-handle, is shown at h, and that part which pinches and holds the cloth is shown at g, the latter preferably reaching .across the mouth or space left between A and D, and

having a height such as to tightly lill this space when in use. To aid this lever in the proper performance of its duty of securely holding the shirt, as also to make the device more durable, we prefer not to solder or weld the parts A and D to each other, but, on the contrary, I provide D with ears j, which, be-

ing bent over and under the edges of two opposite nicks or notches made in the edges of A, hold the two parts A and D firmly to gether without any risk of rupture-0r dislocation, While, at the same time, allowing yield and sprin g enough to-adapt the parts for holding any kind of fold, whether even or uneven, and whether the fabric be line or coarse.

To prevent the lever, when swung open, from dropping in the slot e, we make a small rise or Swell, i, upon it, as shown.

A metal or other eye o r loop, k, adapted to be hooked upon any ordinary button of the pants or drawers, is secured to the end of the elastic C.

'It will now be seen that this clasp, when provided with the elastic and its metallic loop,

forms a bosom-protector complete in itself, and

all ready to be applied for use to any shirt; that there is no need of the ordinary buttonholed strap, which is `usually affixed to shirts just below the bosom; that it is adapted for use whether under drawers be worn or not; that the elastic strap renders it very easy. to the wearer, and relieves of that tight pull at his neck which he often experiences with the ordinary button-holed Strap above named.

With shirts having such straps, however, our device is applicable, as it may be directly clasped to such strap or to a double or folded portion of the shirt, at option. l Our device requires no pintle, journal, or journal-bearings for the clamping-lever F, no

opening in the bed A into which to sink the fabric in order to hold it, and has no sharp points or' hooks to penetrate the fabric and chafe or injure it, while, also, that face of-it which, when the device is in use, is placed t0- ward the person of the wearer is practically in the same line with its elastic and hook, so that no portion either of the device or of the garment is pressed inward against the flesh.

top piece D applied thereto, as shown and dcscribed., and the' clamping-lever F, made and applied to the piece D, as and for the purpose set forth.

DWIGHT M. CHURCH. ARISTA R. EAMES.

Witnesses:

THos. S. BIRDSEYE, S. E. DOWNS. 

